"Revenue in the fourth quarter declined as we anticipated, largely driven by the loss of low-margin business in our snacks division," he said.

"While we will need to lap some revenue decline related to volume loss in the first half of 2019, I'm confident in our ability to pivot to revenue growth in the second half of the year as we better position ourselves to capitalise on the private-label growth in our categories."

Speaking to analysts after the results came out on Thursday (14 February), Oakland said: "We have a new team in the snacks business and we have an awful lot of effort going on there. And we have a real obligation and, quite frankly, an opportunity to position that business to prosper in whatever its new life is."

Oakland pointed to what he called "operational progress" in 2018.

"We consolidated three manufacturing plants and 12 warehouse locations, and permanently decommissioned 20 production lines. We optimised our administrative footprint as we closed the Omaha office, and we are in the process of closing St. Louis," he said.

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